


Wildest Dreams

by HolleringHawk65



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Superheroes, Alternate Universe - Nymphs, Dick was still in the circus, F/M, It's basically a mermaid!AU, M/M, Mentions of melancholy, The setting is mainly a beach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-21
Updated: 2015-07-21
Packaged: 2018-04-10 10:43:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4388729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HolleringHawk65/pseuds/HolleringHawk65
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harley met an ocean nymph when she was a little girl. She had no idea that Bruce would become such an important part of her life.</p>
<p>After Harley's sudden departure from the beach city, Bruce is helped by one Tim Drake. It all leads to a bit of a mess for them, but that all might be okay because easy things aren't typically worthwhile in the long run.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wildest Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going through this mermaid-ish phase and somehow I managed to crank this out in a day, haha. Out of all the characters, I think that Bruce (once again) is the most OOC, but then again he's the equivalent of a teenager in this and his parents are still alive. Advanced apologies for all of that!
> 
> Oh! I almost forgot to mention that Bruce and Jason are both hundreds of years old, but Harley and Tim are both teenagers for the majority of the story, so sorry if that bothers you!
> 
> Please let me know what you think about it (positive or negative) in a comment! ^.^

The first time that she saw him, she was just a little girl. For the record, he didn’t look that old himself, probably around the same age as a teenager.

She and her family were at the beach for a small summer vacation. She was walking ahead of her family, so far ahead that they couldn’t see that there was anything in the water. She had gone up to her little knees to talk to the boy who seemed to be treading water. He came a little bit closer to her, out of curiosity. Behind them, his tale flicked up, exposing the orca like fin.

She was delighted. In her three year old babble, she proudly told him to call her “Harley, like the bike company, but I’m a girl.”

He had laughed, not even knowing what a bike was but thinking that it must be something funny to get her to react like that--her nose had scrunched up. His laugh sounded rather like a dolphin in sound but deeper in tone. “I’m Bruce.”

“Bruce Moose,” she sing-songed.

He would have liked to keep talking to the strange little creature but he noticed that adults were coming this way. He bid his farewell before turning around, tail cutting the surface of the water one last time.

Harley humphed and sat down in the water, none too happy that her stick in the mud parents had scared away her new friend. She tried to tell them what-- _who_ \--had been there, but they both dismissed it as childish imagination.

It was infuriating to the little girl.

* * *

When she was ten, she walked the beach by herself. It was the middle of the night, and a group of teenagers could be seen further up the beach, but she had no business with them. She sat down on the sand, waiting for something that probably hadn’t even existed. She wasn’t quite sure that she trusted her own memory, but if she didn’t, who would?

“Harley.”

The voice sounded like a foreigners’. She looked out into the water and saw _him_ again, looking as if he was barely a day older.

“Bruce,” she said, a smile instantly blooming across her face. “Hi.”

“Hello.” Behind him, his tail flicked against the water.

“Are you a merman?” she blurted out. It was a question that had bothered her for years. Was he a mermaid thing? Or was he just one of those convincing cosplayers?

“I’m a sea nymph,” he said slowly. “Which is really rather similar, I guess. A main difference is that I have a tail but I can have legs whenever I want.”

“Oh.”

She almost asked if she could see his legs but she didn’t want to push him. If he was anything like a mermaid, then he wouldn’t do too well with a lot of questions and/or demands.

“I can show you,” he suggested, already coming closer. “If you’re not scared.”

“Go ahead, as long as you won’t eat me.”

He laughed. “If I wanted to eat you, I already would have.”

“You’re not helping my hammering heart.”

He smiled, revealing almost human teeth. “I can tell. I assure you though, I won’t hurt you. You’re too young right now.”

She missed the last part in her ten year old mind. He walked up so that the water was lapping at his knees. He looked, in this stance, like a celebrity on the cover of a swimsuit magazine. To her, he was perfect.

“Wow.” It came out as a tiny squeak. The moonlight glinted off of his teeth as he smiled.

“You flatter me.”

“You’re beautiful.”

He looked like he wanted to respond to that but a volleyball landed right next to Harley, kicking up sand and bringing teens after it. Before she could tell him to wait, Bruce was gone.

* * *

They didn’t stay as far apart for as long. Harley was thirteen when she got separated from her father and her brother in the ocean. Something was dragging her down into deeper, colder water, filling her with panic. If there was one thing she _could not do,_ it was being in the cold.

Suddenly there was another tug on her ankle and she lost any air that she might have had left in her lungs. She tried to keep her eyes opened but that didn’t too much good at such a depth. She glimpsed at a slim tail, and it looked like an orca’s (or was that a shark?), before her eyes shut and she felt herself drift downwards.

She didn’t know if it was hours or minutes later when she woke up on a beach, coughing her lungs out, along with the saltwater.

Bruce was leaning over her and for the first time, she saw the color of his eyes. _Blue, like the arctic_ , was the first thing that came across her mind.

“You’re okay now,” he told her. “I have to go but your dad is coming right now, I promise you.”

She wanted to tell him not to leave her, that she wanted to actually talk to him, but he was already gone.

* * *

 

Another three years later, she was on vacation again for the first time since the incident, and on her first nighttime walk.

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Bruce said behind her. She spun around, startled. “How are you?”

“I’m good. Alive, thanks for that by the way.”

“Of course.” He shifted his weight, looking awkward with his legs. “It was my duty as a nymph to save you.”

“Oh.”

“I mean, I’ve known you since you were a child.”

“For five minutes… I think that this is the longest we’ve ever talked.”

He hummed in agreement as she started walking again. She kept it at a slow pace so that he would be able to match it. “Harley.”

“Yes?” She stopped to let him catch up the few paces that he was behind on.

“Can I kiss you?”

It was an odd request, one that even caused her to raise her eyebrows. “Aren’t you old?”

“Only one thousand nine hundred and thirty-nine,” he admitted. A certain kind of smile appeared on his face. “I trust you.”

“With your first kiss?”

He looked away, blushing, which looked odd on his pale skin. “Yes. Don’t laugh, it’s not really for a lack of trying. Or maybe it is. I don’t particularly care for the feminine sea nymphs.”

“Oh, good to know,” she told him as she took a step closer to him. When he was close, it felt like there was a wave of energy that pulsed around him, coming over her and soothing over her. “I’m only sixteen.”

He chuckled. “Don’t think about it too much--nymphs age much slower than humans. I’m basically a teenager.”

She looped her arms around his neck. There was a definite height difference, but it wasn’t that much of a big deal, especially since he was willing to lean down. Bruce could feel her heartbeat through her wrists at the back of his neck, knew that she was getting soothed by his own aura. The sound of the waves lulled them both into a peaceful state as they leaned into each other.

When their lips met, there were no fireworks or lightning bolts, just this feeling of drowning. It wasn’t the same as when she was pulled into the cold waters of the Atlantic--this was an undoubtedly warmer feeling.

Bruce pulled away, eyes blown wide from coming back from it. His legs felt even more unstable than before as he cupped her face. “Harley.”

Her hands flattened out and rested on his shoulders. “That was… Holy shit.”

He chuckled. “Sorry. I should have probably warned you about that, eh?”

“Would that happen with anyone you kiss?” She felt rather jealous even before knowing the answer. Bruce, while only actually appearing for a few minutes in her life, had fueled a childhood of imagination. She had always thought of him as hers and hers alone.

“No, just you. You’re the first human I ever saw--it’s one of the agreements from this ancient pact dating back to the beginning of our two species.”

“Are any of the other agreements so…” She sighed. “My head is still reeling.”

“Mine too,” he murmured, chin resting on top of her head as he wrapped his arms around her. They stayed next to each other until the sun started to rise. Bruce slowly pulled himself away from her after kissing her forehead. “I should go. I’ll see you tonight?”

Harley nodded. “Tonight.”

They kissed one last time. It was such a strong feeling that coursed through them both that all they could was cling to each other.

She wondered, as Bruce entered the water, if that was a feeling a lot of sixteen year olds had experienced with a sea nymph before.

* * *

“What do you mean we’re leaving?”

“I was nearly attacked by a shark today, clearly this ocean is still too dangerous,” her mother explained, hands on her hips. “Now go pack up all of your things.”

What was she supposed to do about Bruce? If they were leaving _today_ than they had to leave before three and it was eleven now. Was there anytime to go to the beach and try to find him?

“Mom, can’t we wait until tomorrow?”

“No. This way, we can get some of the money back.”

She didn’t know what to say. Everything her mother thought about was either herself or money. Harley’s brother had been doing drugs and she hadn’t even attempted to stop him--no, that responsibility fell to _Harley_ , the youngest in the family.

“But Mom, I really wanted to go to the beach today.”

“We already discussed this,” she snapped. “It’s not safe.”

“Was it even a shark?”

“Of course it was a shark! I know what I saw.”

_Right._ For a minute, Harley just stood there, still shell-shocked. She thought she was going to cry, but she steeled herself. Maybe she could convince her dad to let them stay…

She couldn’t.

At two o’clock, their SUV was packed up again with all of their stuff. Harley looked out towards the ocean, wondering what Bruce was doing right then. Her heart felt like it was breaking as he dad tapped her shoulder and reminded her that she herself had to get _into_ the car.

What was she going to do?

* * *

Bruce kept running his hand through his hair as he waited for Harley to show up. It was nearing one o’clock and she still wasn’t there. If he knew where her rented house was, he would have gone to it, would have figured a way to enter it and found Harley and just curled against up against her.

But he didn’t, so he sat there, waiting, until the sun rose up. He didn’t know what he was supposed to be feeling--anger? Was he supposed to _hate_ her for leaving him; for betraying his trust? In all of his life, no one had ever done that before--nymphs were honorable creatures, they didn’t lie or mislead like sirens and mermaids.

Something _must_ have happened. She wouldn’t just… just leave him like that. This was Harley. They’d stayed up all the night before, just talking, because there was that undeniable connection and he _loved_ her and he felt this _panic_ rise up in him.

But there was nothing he could do.

He stood up, toes curling in the sand. He could try to find her--how many rented houses could there be in this city? And he knew that she had an ocean view--she had told him that much--so that narrowed it down a little bit.

He set off towards the boardwalk, leaving the beach for the first time. His feet were incredibly tender and the splintered boardwalk cut into them, causing there to be a rather agonizing pain, but he had to try to find her.

* * *

Bruce had discovered that Harley’s family--the Quinzels--had left after only two days. Harley had mentioned none of this, in fact she had said that they were supposed to stay a week. Why hadn’t they?

Nothing had happened at the beach the day before. He knew that there had been a shark nearby--but nearby for him was miles away for humans. Maybe that had _something_ to do with it?

He was sitting on a bench on the boardwalk, contemplating what to do--was there anything he could do, realistically? He had a very limited knowledge of humans and their culture--enough to get him by, but what good would that do without Harley?

The sound of something slapping against the ground made him jump. He looked up to see a boy, one that was younger than Harley, standing there. He was pointing at something on the boardwalk, causing Bruce to look down. There was a pair of new flipflops there.

“Do you want them?” Bruce asked, confused.

“No, silly, they’re for you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Your feet will get really nasty if you don’t wear anything.”

He slipped them on. Compared to the wood of the boardwalk, this was like walking on clouds. “Thank you…”

“I’m Tim Drake.” He held out his hand. “And you’re?”

“Bruce.” He didn’t really have a last name-- “Dylan” meant "son of the sea," and that would have to be good enough for now if anyone asked (he hoped that they didn’t).

Tim nodded. “So why are you walking around shirtless and in black jeans in the middle of the summer?”

“My… friend left me.” He could go back to the ocean, but he didn’t feel like it right now. It’s not like a lot of people would miss him. Yet, anyway. He winced at how his parents were going to react--they’d probably send someone after him eventually. But not yet, he still had a little while before they got worried.

“That sucks. My parents left and never came back.”

“Oh.”

He shrugged. “On the flip side, I live on the beach.”

“You live _on_ the beach?”

“Well, I have a nice set up underneath the boardwalk, but yeah. So, you know, I…” he hesitated. “I know who you are.”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, I mean, I kind of do. I saw you talking to that girl the other night and then disappearing into the water. So are you a mermaid--uh, merman?”

“I’m an ocean nymph,” Bruce corrected him before sighing. “I’m actually also prince, just to let you know.”

“Then why don’t you have any money?”

“I do.”

Tim’s eyebrows went up. “You do? Then why haven’t you gotten anything for yourself yet? Like food or a toothbrush?”

“Because I want to die.”

Tim rolled his eyes. “Somebody’s melodramatic.”

“I’m not melodramatic. She’s basically my soul mate. Fate lead us to each other.”

He plopped down next to him. “Fine. How much money do you have though?”

“An infinite amount,” I explained as I pulled a wallet out of my pocket. “It’s enchanted.”

“Of course it is. Look, let’s get you a shirt and some basic supplies.” His stomach growled and he blushed, looking away from him.

“Do you need to eat?”

“Well... yeah, kind of.”

“Than we’ll get breakfast first. What do you want?”

“Aren’t you a carnivore?”

“Not exclusively.” He smiled. “I prefer meat but I can eat anything.”

Tim got up and smoothed out his cargo shorts. “We’re getting frozen custard.”

Bruce laughed.

* * *

“Thomas, we need to send someone after him,” Martha said as she swam the length of their bedroom over and over again. “We haven’t heard from him in weeks.”

“Darling, he may be young but he’s capable.” He reached out for his wife, putting his hands on her shoulders.

She sighed. “What if something has happened to him? He’s our only son.”

“He’s _fine_. He’ll return to us, in one piece, when he’s ready. You know that everyone swims off on their own at one point or another.”

“But this is _Bruce_. He always gets into trouble somehow.”

“How about we send Jason then?” He knew that the only way to get his wife to calm down was to do what she wanted no matter how much he just wanted to give Bruce his space. “They’re friends.”

She nodded and smiled, looking relieved--finally. “Yes, _that's_ a good idea. If anyone can, Jason will get Bruce to come home.”

* * *

Bruce and Tim didn’t go around buying anything and everything they wanted. While there were some things that Tim desperately wanted, he stuck to the necessities first, and Bruce was happy to oblige him. Tim’s little space under the boardwalk was practically a camp, minus a tent. Considering that storm season was approaching and they needed protection for their things, a tent was the first big purchase they made. They had a minor issue getting it back there, but they managed it without being seen.

They bought a few other things over the next few weeks to make it more comfortable. It turned into little more than cardboard box to a borderline luxury camp.

Helping Tim got his mind off of Harley for a little while.

He still didn’t know what to do about that, wasn’t sure yet if he should go home or if he should try to seek her out. He couldn’t imagine traveling the human world trying to find her all by himself.

Tim wasn’t going to leave the city. He hated leaving the beach and the boardwalk to go to a real grocery store further from the shore. Bruce wasn’t quite sure if it was the fact that he had to walk or if it was because of another fact, but the point was that Tim was staying where he was.

Bruce felt obligated to stay with him.

“Do you even know how to swim?” he asked the younger boy one day. “I never see you go into the water.”

He rolled his eyes. “Of course I do. I just don’t.”

“Why not? You live on the beach.”

“Well, with things like you, no offense, swimming around, I don’t feel all that safe swimming.”

“I’ll go in with you. Let’s do it tonight--it’s going to be a glorious moon.”

“How do you--never mind. I don’t want to know. Why do you want me to swim anyway?”

He shrugged. “I’m lonely.”

Tim shrugged back. “Fine then.”

* * *

****  
  


That was the same night that the long standing feud between Jason and Tim started. Jason had finally caught up with Bruce--it’d _only_ taken him three weeks this time--the damn prince had gone all up and down the East Coast before settling back down in this city.

He came across the site of Tim swimming with Bruce and he instantly thought that that was the human who had taken Bruce away from them. Bruce was helping the human with his swimming posture, determined to make him the best that he could be.

It was, in Jason’s opinion, rather bad even for a human.

He swam close slowly, not sure how the prince was going to react to him. Bruce heard him first and dismissed it, but Tim saw him and yelped.

The royal looked over and didn’t smile or frown. “Jason? What are you doing here?”

“Your parents sent me to get you.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, in fact turned around and retreated to the shore with Tim, who kept looking back at him. Jason tried avoiding his gaze, but looked away too slowly once. The fifteen year old blushed, scurrying after Bruce.

The guard sighed and followed them, losing his green tail for a pair of shorts. “What are you even doing here? Playing teacher to a guppy? Don’t people get paid for that here?”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “For your information, Tim is my companion. We live together.”

“You-you-you live with _that_?” Jason practically shrieked.

“I’m awaiting the return of my beloved, if you _must_ know. Tim found me the morning after she unexpectedly left.”

The human in question was drying himself off. “No need to get your tail in a twist over anything. Bruce and I are just friends.”

“I would hope so. Do you have any understanding about who he is? He’s _royalty_!”

“Yeah. He actually told me that in like, the first five minutes that I met him. We’re pretty chill.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed, but he dismissed the puny monkey. “We need to go home.”

“Are my parents ill?”

“No.”

“Is home being attacked?”

“No…”

“Does anyone want me to marry them?”

“Well, yes, but that was how it was before you left.”

“Exactly. Nothing’s changed since I’ve left, unless there’s something you’re waiting to tell me? You can say anything in front of Tim. Clearly, they don’t need me there, so we don’t _need_ to go back.”

Tim finished towelling off his hair. “Bruce…”

“What?”

“It’s just that… you’re not happy here, not without Harley.”

“That’s not true,” he shot back. “I’m happy helping you. Going back home would make me even more miserable than I am now, if that’s even possible. Jason, just go home. You know where I am if something major happens.”

“No. If you’re going to stay here with that,” he gestured to Tim, who was now in an undershirt and fluffy flannel pants, “then I’m going to stay here with you. To protect you from any of its advances, of course.”

“It’s name is Tim and he does not appreciate your tone,” the younger boy said before sighing. He handed them both towels. “Dry off before you come into the tent.”

* * *

To be honest, it wasn’t as much of a feud as it was that they both wanted to jump each other’s bones but both were too proud to admit. Jason had no prior experience with humans and that made him even more hesitant around Tim, but eventually he relaxed and the three got along spectacularly.

Tim could tell that Bruce was still thinking constantly about Harley and how to get to her, but he hoped that he wouldn’t leave. It was a silly thing to think, that he would get to keep both Bruce and Jason with him, when in reality both would probably leave him eventually.

He didn’t ever voice his worries to them, and the two never noticed anything that was amiss.

They were on the boardwalk one day towards the end of the season when somebody called out for Tim. He stopped in his tracks and turned around, a smile already on his face and he ran in the direction they’d come from.

Bruce frowned as Jason followed, over protective of the boy at this point. The prince couldn’t blame him either, considering that Jason was feeling the same thing that he felt for Harley. The guard always got a far out look in his eyes when he was next to Tim for long periods of time.

They found him hugging another man--taller than Jason, shorter than Bruce, with tan skin and a 100 watt smile. He had black hair like the rest of them and his eyes were Caribbean water blue.

Jason was sure that he had never been as awed and disgusted by a person so quickly.

Tim turned around, smiling. “This is Dick. We’re friends. I, uh, lived with him for a while. Dick, this is Jason and Bruce. We’ve been living together since the start of the season.”

“Hey guys,” with one arm around Tim, he extended his other hand. “Thanks for helping Tim out. I wanted him to come with me on the circus’s tour but someone was too stubborn to.”

“You know me. I like the beach.” He was blushing and Jason could feel something boiling in his stomach. Of course he was some kind of acrobat or something and of course Tim found that attractive.

He was quite certain that he wanted to strangle someone.

“Tim does this mean you’re leaving us?” Bruce asked the question that had been on both of their minds.

He looked up at Dick and then at the two of them. “No, I don’t think so. I mean… Dick, you’re probably leaving again soon, aren’t you?” His voice got quieter as he talked, something the two nymphs had noted happened when he nervous.

“I was thinking of sticking around til after Christmas, actually.”

“Three months,” Tim squeaked. “You’re going to be here for three months?” He hugged him again and he practically swung him around.

Jason reached out for Tim but Bruce held him back. “Let him have this,” the prince told him.

“He has us,” Jason whispered back.

“I know, he knows that. He does. Clearly he’s just happy to see his friend after spending a long time apart.”

That didn’t help him at all.

* * *

The four ended up walking around together, Tim in between Jason and Dick. Bruce didn’t think that he’d ever seen the boy happier .

They had dinner at a hotel where Bruce bought them a room for the night. He was planning on slipping out so that Tim and Jason could have some time alone-- so that Jason could _finally_ make his move.

When he did, he almost walked right into Dick coming down the hall.

“What are you?” the human hissed.

“Excuse me?”

“What are you?” he repeated, “And what do you want with Tim?”

“Let’s... talk in your room,” he said before sighing. The acrobat took him back up the hallway and into the suite.

“Talk.” He crossed his arms, trying to look intimidating, but Bruce couldn’t be intimidated by someone with such a smaller stature than his.

“Jason and I are nymphs--ocean nymphs, particularly. I’m a prince, he’s a guard. Tim helped me and when Jason came to get me, he stayed with us because I wasn’t going to leave Tim alone. _I_ can’t do that to him.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Dick snapped.

“It’s just an observation that you’ve been gone for a while.”

“I was earning a living so I could come back and help him.”

“Well we’re helping him so he’s fine.”

“You’re going to break his heart.”

“Not if you don’t tell anyone about what Jason and I are,” Bruce said. “Just leave it alone, we were doing fine without you.”

Dick worried his bottom lip between his teeth before he sighed. “He’s like my little brother and I want the best for him, alright? Can you blame me for that?”

“Of course not. I want the best for him too.”

“A truce then? For Tim?”

Bruce nodded and then they shook hands on it.

For Tim.

* * *

When Bruce returned to the room in the morning, Tim was curled up underneath Jason’s arm. The nymph was wide awake, watching him with a smile on his face.

“It went well last night?”

Jason smiled. “Yeah, it did. I think that he actually wants me to stick around now.”

Bruce laughed. “He always wanted you to stick around. It was you who wasn’t sure.”

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Where’d you go last night?”

“Just to the beach. Checked the camp and everything.”

Jason didn’t say anything for a moment before he sighed. “You go back there because you think that she’s going to just appear, don’t you?”

“It’d be nice,” Bruce muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

* * *

While things were going reasonably well for Bruce, it was the exact opposite for Harley. She tried convincing the parents to let her go to the beach with her best friend, Pamela, but every time that they set something up, something happened and they’d have to cancel.

Pamela knew why she was so desperate about going back to the beach and even though she was a woman of science and didn’t quite buy the whole Bruce story, she wanted to see her friend happy. Unfortunately, neither had a license let and therefore they couldn’t go on their own.

Harley seemed so desperate before school started that she admitted that she would take a Greyhound bus if she had to. Pamela put her foot down and said that they would wait until one of them got their license because if Bruce really loved her than he would be waiting for her.

The blonde wasn’t as sure. She was supposed to have met him that night on the beach and she never did. She, in all honesty, would not be surprised if he hated her now. She expected it--how was he supposed to know that she hadn’t wanted to leave without a good-bye?

School eventually started and she got wrapped up in her studies, but the summer still stung like a wound. People would mention going to the beach and her heart would yearn for that night. Halfway through the first semester, in November, Pamela finally made her get herself together. The redhead practically drowned her in clubs so that she wouldn’t have time to think about Bruce.

* * *

Jason paced the hallway. “Something seems off.”

“What do you mean?” Tim asked, his arms wrapping around his boyfriend’s waist.

“Why would Dick just let us move into his house?” That actually wasn’t what he’d been talking about but nonetheless it was a valid point and one that he could talk about with Tim and not feel like he was betraying one of his few friends.

“Because I bought it _for_ Tim,” the twenty year old explained. Again. “And you didn’t complain about it during the hurricane.”

“That was because I thought it was going to be something for like a week. And then we stayed. And we stayed some more.” He sighed at the end, shoulders slumping. It didn’t matter, in the end, what he thought. Bruce was alright living in the beach house and Tim was happy and those were two of the things that really mattered.

His anger had nothing to do with Dick purposefully monopolizing Tim’s time. _Nothing at all_.

He kissed Tim’s forehead before setting out to find Bruce. He was nowhere in the house, but going out on one of the decks showed that he was on the beach. Why he decided to go to the beach on a miserable day like today, Jason could not figure, but he went with it.

He went down to the beach with some PB&J sandwiches and lemonade, plopping down in the sand next to Bruce. The prince was wearing a grey sweater and his usual black jeans and he didn’t even look away from the water when Jason sat down.

“You want to go back now, don’t you?” Jason asked, voice much smaller than it normally was.

“I was considering it.”

“Tim would miss you.” He said it offhandedly, like he wouldn’t miss him either. Bruce knew better than to believe that.

“I know.”

They sat there in silence, both looking out into the cold autumn sea. It was more grey than it was blue, reflecting the sky above. The horizon seemed much closer today, with the sky and ocean blending together.

Jason asked himself, internally, if he missed the water. He didn’t, not really. Maybe it was become of Tim. It might have been the fact that no one here looked down on him.

“When will you decide?” he asked him after a moment.

“I don’t think that this is something I can decide lightly. There’s nothing going on at home so there’s no reason for me to go back. I could continue my travels, maybe…”

“Find somebody else?”

Bruce shrugged. “I doubt that I could do that. Aside from being the first human that I saw, she’s just really special.”

Jason patted his back. “I don’t know what to tell you other than I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine for…”

“Leaving home?” Jason supplied, but this summer was not the issue. It was the summer all of those years ago, when Bruce had met Harley. That summer had been horrible for both of them--mainly for Jason because he wasn’t a guard yet and was constantly running for his life. It was, to say the least, not an enjoyable existence. On the other hand, he didn’t know why it was bad for Bruce. There were rumours that someone he cared about had died, that his parents fought a lot, that somebody had tried to kill him. Whatever the reason was, it was something that he was rather sure not even his parents knew, which was surprising considering the fact that Bruce had been depressed for almost the whole summer and into the fall.

“I guess.” He finally had a sandwich before looking out at the ocean for a little while longer. “We should be heading back.”

Jason was more than happy to agree with that. The ocean’s hold on Bruce was a frightening thing to watch. He didn’t want to lose his best friend because of a girl who had left him “on accident.” She couldn’t be worth _that_ much.

He disappeared to his room after that, only coming out for a small portion of dinner, and the worry in Jason’s chest expanded.

* * *

“Why don’t you go to the beach? You were asking to all summer.”

Harley was seconds away from losing it with her mother. Of course, _now_ , in the beginning of winter, she suggests for her to go.

“It’s not fun in the winter,” she practically hissed. She’d only seen Bruce there in the summer--not that she’d ever gone at another point in the year before--and it might just turn out to be a waste of gas. Something inside of her said that it was just going to be a waste of gas anyway.

So instead, she went over to Pamela’s and they studied for their upcoming Chemistry test.

* * *

“I’m going to visit my parents,” Bruce told the three of them. It was after another one of his afternoons spent staring at the sea. The locals must have started to think that he was deranged, with him being out there no matter what the weather was, practically everyday.

Tim was the first to react. “Are you going to come back?”

“I think so.”

“Did you want me to go with you?” Jason reluctantly asked.

“No, of course not. You’re happy here with Tim.”

“I’m sure that they miss you,” Dick stated after a moment. “It might even do you some good with your Harley problem.”

Bruce shrugged. “Maybe.”

* * *

Thomas and Martha were relieved to see their son again after almost a year. They celebrated the holidays together and he used the time to recuperate more from Harley, never mentioning her by name but her presence in his life was clear.

It was nice to be using his tail all of the time again. It was nice that he didn’t have to wear a shirt. It was nice that he didn’t have to think about money. It was nice not to hear Jason complaining about Dick. It was nice to have the feminine nymphs throw themselves at him.

There were a lot of things nice about being home, but there was a lot of things that made it feel like a strange place.

* * *

“I knew it!” Jason yelled. “I knew that you were too good to be true, that you caught on too quickly to Bruce and me. You’re a freaking nymph yourself!”

Tim was sitting at the dinner table, a forkful of microwaved leftover spaghetti en route to his mouth when he heard Jason’s accusation towards Dick. He got up and rushed into the living room where the two were standing practically head to toe.

“And what if I was? What would you do about it, Jason?” His voice was surprisingly calm, not really malicious. “What I am has nothing to do with you since it doesn’t affect you in the slightest. I have nothing to do with your city.”

“So you admit that you are a nymph? Tim, he’s a nymph!”

“I am _not_ a nymph,” he said, sounding exasperated. “My mother was, therefore I am only a half-nymph.”

“Oh,” they expressed in unison.

“It’s ancient history though. Point is, I do understand quite a bit more about you and Bruce than you thought I did. It’s nothing major. I would never go public with something like this.”

Jason completely relaxed for the first time since September. “I think that I believe you this time.”

* * *

Bruce stayed a lot longer than he had meant to.

Jason trusted Dick more than anyone would guess and relaxed into an easy lifestyle via Bruce’s enchanted wallet.

Tim was happy that the two most important people in his life were finally getting along.

Dick was glad that Jason hadn’t killed him yet--not that he had any reason to. He decided to take an extended vacation from the circus to help the two set up a store on the boardwalk in time for the beginning of the season.

Harley was wondering how hard it would be for her disappear from her town, preferably with Pamela if the redhead would allow.

Pamela was thinking about just how strong the bond between a nymph and a human was and if there was anyway she could break it.

* * *

When Bruce finally returned to the beach, it had almost been a year since he’d last seen Harley. He felt just as empty as he had before he left, and that was over six months ago.

He slipped into Dick’s house with the key he had taken. There was no noise from anywhere in the house and for once, he was thankful for that.

He climbed up the stairs to the roof and sat up there for a while until the door opened and Dick stepped out.

“Fancy seeing you here,” the acrobat said as he sat down in one of the available chairs. “How are your parents?”

“They’re good. The city and kingdom are good.”

The half-human could tell that the visit had not improved Bruce’s spirits in the slightest. “Do you want to go see Harley?”

“I’d like to, yeah.” Bruce didn’t even look at him as he said it, keeping his eyes on the stars above them.

“I found her address.” He hadn’t told that to Tim or Jason. Hadn’t seen the need to, if Bruce never came back, and it had been starting to look like he wouldn’t.

“You do?” He sat up and looked at Dick. “Honestly? You know that it’s hers?”

“Yeah, I do.”

They stared at each other for a moment. “Can you take me tomorrow?”

* * *

Bruce fidgeted the closer that they got to the address. Dick tried to get him to calm down--there was no reason to get worked up about it, especially if it didn’t pan out--but nothing worked.

As soon as they parked in front of the property, Bruce bolted out of the car. Dick had never seen him move so fast and that made him think about how badly the melancholy had actually affected him.

The prince rang the doorbell and stood there rather patiently, at least in comparison to his attitude in the car. Here, he was cool, calm, and collected, or at least on the outside.

The door swung open to reveal an older man, probably in his 50’s. “Can I help you two?”

“Hello sir, my name’s Bruce and this is my friend Dick. We’re friends of Harley’s, is she home?”

“No, and she hasn’t been home since school ended. She ran away.”

Dick watched as Bruce’s smile disappeared. “Oh.”

“Thank you for your time, Mr. Quinzel,” Dick added. The old man nodded and retreated back into the house, the door closing behind him as he did.

Dick had to guide Bruce back into the car.

* * *

Harley dragged Pamela into a new store on the boardwalk. It was filled with all different kinds of knick knacks--some things had to do with the city, others the ocean, even more that had to do with specifically the amusement park. She paused in front of a stuffed Orca toy and sighed as she picked it up.

Pamela groaned internally when she saw her do it. They were there to find Bruce, but if they couldn’t find him before school was set to start, they were going back home, _together_. The redhead was planning on going home even if they found the nymph.

“Don’t spend your money willy nilly,” she reminded her, taking the toy from her hands and setting it back down to where it had been initially displayed.

“Red, it’s been a whole year today,” Harley muttered. “Aren’t I allowed to miss him?”

“You’ve been missing him for 364 _days_ ,” she reminded her. “Come on.”

“Excuse me!” A boy, just about their age, came over to them. “Are you Harley, by any chance?”

“Uh, yes… Why?”

He burst into a smile. “I know Bruce.”

* * *

Dick couldn’t find Bruce anywhere. He had left him in his bedroom, which the acrobat considered a reasonable place to leave someone who was clearly distraught over something.

Apparently, the nymph had other ideas.

He was just about to call Tim when the other called him first.

“Is Bruce with you?” he greeted, sounding as happy as he had when they’d celebrated his half-birthday.

“Uh, no. Why?”

“We found Harley! Actually, she came into the store, but I was the one who thought to ask her! If you see Bruce, let him know that she’s here, will you?”

“Yeah, yeah. Uh. Can you send Jason to help me look for him?”

There was a moment of silence. “Dick…”

“No questions, please. I think that he might do something stupid.”

* * *

 

Harley knew that Bruce was about to do something stupid. She’d been able to feel the aura since she and Pamela had hit the boardwalk this morning. It wasn’t the same soothing beats that it’d been a year before. This was something entirely different and it made panic crawl into her throat.

Even though Tim--the boy who had “found” her--had asked her to stay put, she couldn’t just sit there as Bruce did something. She had to find him.

She let her gut tell her where she had to go and found herself running towards the music pier. She ran up and saw that a crowd was gathering at the end and immediately saw why.

Bruce was standing on the top of the music hall, looking over the edge and at the ocean below. The water was rather shallow there and filled with sharp rocks--which of course he would know, considering he’d had lived in the water and on the beach.

There was someone climbing up to talk him out of it, but Harley had a feeling that they wouldn’t be able to help him. As soon as she got within earshot, she started yelling his name at the top of lungs.

He turned around, looking dazed. She scrambled up the later, rushing over to him.

“Harley?” He stepped away from the edge, completely ignoring the police officer who’d come up. “Is it really you?”

His hands had come to cup her cheeks and the aura was stronger here than anywhere else. Instead of the frantic rhythm it had been sending out mere moments before, it was the old familiar beat that they had experienced a year ago.

“Yeah, Bruce, it’s really me.”

* * *

****  
  


Dick leaned back in his chair. “So, you’re Harley’s best friend?”

Pamela rolled her eyes. “I’m not looking for a roll in the hay with an acrobat.”

“Would it help if I said that I can tell you’re a half nymph, just like me? And that I’m not looking for a roll in the hay but maybe somebody who can help me figure all of this out with. And deal with two nymphs and their significant others.”

Her eyebrow rose as a smile came across her lips. “It might.”

* * *

 

“Would you have really gone through with it?” Harley whispered to Bruce that night. “If I hadn’t shown up?”

One of Bruce’s hands ran through her hair and down her arm. “I don’t know.”

She sighed and rolled onto her back. “Where do we go with this now?”

“Anywhere you want to go. We can do anything we want right now.”

“Anything?”

He kissed her before answering. “Anything.”

* * *

 

They sold the store for a price lower than it probably deserved. Not that they really needed the money, considering the magical wallet, but the money was there if something ever happened.

Dick thought about putting the house up for rent but decided against it. It was nice having a place to call home, even if it was just a tiny beach house.

The six decided that a road trip was long over due. Harley and Pamela had enough credits that they didn’t need to show up to school, which significantly freed up their year if they wanted to.

the feeling of being on the open road like that, well, it was freedom for all of them.

 

* * *

 

It was one night in a hotel, the boys in one room and the girls in one room, when Bruce asked Tim a question he’d been wanting to for a while now.

“How come you didn’t want to leave the beach before?”

Tim considered the question for a moment. “I felt like there was something keeping me there.” He smiled. “I guess it was Fate, eh? If I hadn’t been in the store, you and Harley might have never met up again.”

The thought was rather saddening. It didn’t matter though, because they were all together again, and everyone was happy.

Everyone hoped that it would stay like that for a long, long time.

 


End file.
